The Lost Liberty of the English Revolution - Quentin Skinner

The constitutional upheavals of the 17th century gave rise to the view of individual liberty to which we have basically subscribed ever since; that our liberty consists in our not being unnecessarily interfered with in the pursuit of our chosen ends. The lecture will argue that the entrenchment of this conception involved the rejection of a broader and more democratic view of what it means to be a free citizen. The lecture seeks to reconstruct the elements of this lost vision of freedom and invites us to consider its relevance for our present lives.

Quentin Skinner is professor in the humanities at Queen Mary, University of London